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It is easy to see why tackling these shadowy criminals is a huge and growing market. BAE Systems and Vodafone, which at the weekend unveiled a five-year deal to work together to combat cyber crime, are leading the charge into the highly lucrative business of cyber sleuthing.

The defence firm is seeking to expand its cyber and security arm Detica in the mobile arena. Along with Vodafone, it will offer security products for phones and tablet devices to sniff out crime.

A National Audit Office report published last week shows that cyber crime, which includes corporate espionage, costs the UK somewhere between £18billion and £27billion a year.

Cyber attacks ranked as one of the top four UK national risks in 2010 and it is something that has become one of the biggest threats to British business.

‘The threat to cyber security is persistent and constantly evolving,’ the NAO report said. ‘The nature of the threats, however, means people can underestimate the risk to business, government and the citizen.’

A report by BAE’s Detica and the Cabinet Office explains that as global competition increases, there is likely to be an increasing risk that ‘disreputable but legitimate’ organisations may engage in cyber crimes such as theft of intellectual property or industrial espionage to obtain a rival company’s sensitive information.

It added: ‘Although it is unlikely that the vast majority of organisations will engage in this type of criminal activity due to the risk it holds for their reputation, some large or under-pressure organisations may believe that the ends justify the means, especially if they are assisted by foreign intelligence services. ‘Alternatively in an attempt to distance themselves from the crime, disreputable organisations may hire a third party to undertake the cyber crime on their behalf – at a premium price of course.’

In December 2009 Google detected a highly sophisticated attack on its corporate infrastructure originating from China.

The criminals were found to have installed malware – short for malicious software – via email on computers in another 30 companies and government agencies.

Foreign countries are also in on the game, waging war on the UK by stealing intellectual property.

Cyber cheating is a short-cut to trade secrets and expertise that could take years to gain honestly. It can also be used to gain an advantage when bidding for contracts – and the economic slump means it is on the increase.

Firms have been defending themselves using state-of-the-art software which in many cases has been developed in Israel – a hub for tech-based security firms.

Gabi Reish, a director of Tel Aviv-based Check Point which counts the NHS as a client, said: ‘The downturn seems to have caused a spike in attempts to take corporate information – the crown jewels of firms. Some of the attacks are targeted to gain specific data.’

In June 2012, the head of MI5 warned that malicious activity online had increased and inevitably large organised crime networks have also muscled in.

Less sophisticated gangs will focus on online theft from businesses and large-scale online scams. More refined forms of cyber crime include harvesting stolen ‘insider’ information, such as details of takeovers, then using it to trade on the stock market.

The problem is compounded because many firms fear that reporting online attacks might damage their reputation and make a vulnerable system become even more of a target.

The EU said last week it wants to create a Computer Emergency Response Team to which companies would report breaches.

This new body would decide what information to make public and it would also levy fines – hardly an incentive to encourage firms to come forward.

But businesses do not need another tier of bureaucracy. They need to arm themselves and fight back.